All of my STRADA September 2020 30-Day Challenge paintings

Day 1

Mini Donuts

5x7 gouache on Yupo Paper.

Day 2

McDonald Mansion Greenhouse

9x12 inches. Gouache on toned Kraft paper.

$250

To buy, CLICK HERE

Day 3

Milk And Cookies

6x6 inches. Gouache on black paper.

SOLD

Painting gouache on black paper was way more difficult than I expected it to be! You do have to layer it a bit in order to get it to be fully opaque. It might be good to try if you think you paint in gouache too thin, and you want to get out of the habit of doing so!

Day 4

Kortum Trail, Sonoma Coast State Park

6x8 Inches. Oil on linen board.

$450

To buy, CLICK HERE

Day 5

6x8 inches. OIl on linen board.

Day 6

4x6 inches. Oil on linen board.

Day 7

6.75x6.75 inches. Oil on canvas board.

SOLD

Day 8

What-A-Chicken Burrito

5.5x8 inches. Gouache on toned paper.

SOLD

I am so happy to finally paint what may be my favorite burrito on earth: The @whatachicken_petaluma pollo asado burrito! If you are ever in Petaluma, make sure to get something there. Everything is sooo good and the portions are huge. I'm not even being paid to say any of this; I'm just a really big fan of this restaurant and want it to stay in business forever. Oh and make sure to get some of their homemade salsas. Man, I just had one and I'm already craving another!

Day 9

Mexican Pizza

5.5x8 inches. Gouache on paper.

SOLD

Day 10

Pork Buns

6.5x6 inches. Gouache on toned paper.

$75

These pork buns survived quite the journey! @vanessanavigator bought them at the famous Sunday San Francisco farmer's market during the crazy high heat wave that crushed the Bay Area this past weekend. For a microwave bun, they were pretty good though! The filling was pretty tasty.

To buy, CLICK HERE

Day 11

Chicken Nuggets

5.5x8 inches. Gouache on watercolor paper.

SOLD

Another classic McDonalds item. I haven't ate very many as an adult but as a kid I was all about nuggets.

Day 12

Sara Lee Vineyards

4.5x8 inches. Gouache on watercolor paper.

$85

It's still smoky outside but that didn't stop us from painting with our N95 masks on! This is a fun row of flowers that this vineyard is known for. Still enough sun to get some good diffuse light through the leaves.

To buy, CLICK HERE

Day 13

Hacienda Bridge

9x12 inches. Gouache on toned Kraft paper.

$250

Another smoky day near the river. The smoke is such a challenge, it makes the colors of the distant hills so difficult to nail down! Just gotta keep comparing the colors and values until you get them right.

To buy, CLICK HERE

Day 14

Nintendo DS

6.5x6.5 inches. Gouache on black paper.

$75

I found my old Nintendo DS I used to play around with about 15 years ago. I downloaded a program that let you draw and paint on it, so that was an early version portable digital painting for me. I also found an old Final Fantasy VI cartridge in it - my all-time favorite video game!! No other game has gotten close to taking so many hours of my life 😝

To buy, CLICK HERE

Day 15

River Brush Study

3.5x5.5 inches. Gouache on ivory paper.

SOLD

Day 16

Buffalo Wings

5x8 inches. Gouache on Canson watercolor board.

$90

Comes with blue cheese dip and celery! 🍗

To buy, CLICK HERE

Day 17

Loma Prieta From Saddle Mountain

4.5x7.5 inches. Gouache on toned paper.

$70

This was a view after an hour-long hike right up from the campsite that we stayed at in Carmel Valley this past week. What was cool was that some folks left two cheap chairs for hikers to enjoy the view on! What was also cool was being able to see a sliver of Monterey Bay, which I captured in this painting.

To buy, CLICK HERE

Day 18

Whalers Cove, Point Lobos

6.5x12 inches. Oil on linen board.

$550

It was @compassroseartistry 's first time at Point Lobos, and I knew that she would love it, after all I talked it up over the time I've known her! She loved it too, and she did a nice job painting this popular location. This

To buy, CLICK HERE

Day 19

Carmel Beach Mansion

4.5x7.5 inches. Gouache on toned paper.

$60

Vanessa low-key kinda challenged me to paint this scene. I was pretty loose with it for most of the painting. The pop of the lights really catches your eye, which was needed after the sun was rapidly leaving the scene.

To buy, CLICK HERE

Day 20

Santa Cruz Sea Swings

4.5x7.5 inches. Gouache on toned paper.

We spent a lovely evening at the Santa Cruz beach boardwalk on the second-to-last day of our vacation. So fun to tackle these complex subjects in gouache! Because of the immediacy of the medium, it allows you to add as much to the painting in the moment as you want.

SOLD

Day 21

Wave Rider Slide, Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk

3.5x5.5 inches. Gouache on ivory paper.

$30

The Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk again! I loved the colors and shapes enough to want to do another painting of the area. This time I painted the brand-new Wave Rider waterslide. Looks fun! Can't wait for amusement parks to open up again.

To buy, CLICK HERE

Day 22

Cove Beach, Ano Nuevo State Park

4.5x7.5 inches. Gouache on toned paper.

$75

We were considering different places to go for our final location of the trip. Vanessa had just got some yummy strawberry jam from the Swanton Berry Farm, and Ano Nuevo State Park was nearby. We were both feeling a little fatigue from going hard the past five days, so we didn't want to put too much effort into it. We weren't super familiar with this park, but we were so glad we decided to stop and pay the parking fee! What a beautiful beach! Pretty secluded and not very many people there compared to Santa Cruz. I did two paintings there and this was the more successful one, even though I had less time to chase the light. I had a lot of fun simplifying this scene, even if it was out of necessity.

To buy, CLICK HERE

Day 23

Vanessa Painting In The Field

6x6.5 inches. Gouache on ivory paper.

$50

On the eve of our 1-year anniversary, we did what we love: paint from life 🖌️♥️

To buy, CLICK HERE

Day 24

Point Lobos Big Dome From Granite Point

4.5x7.5 inches. Gouache on toned paper.

SOLD

I had a great time showing Vanessa Point Lobos for the first time. It's legendary! So many paintable areas. We went down to the beach at Granite Point to get this view. I also wanted to show it's possible to get soft edges in gouache.

Day 25

Pink Ladies

5x7 inches. Oil on linen mounted on board.

$350

To buy, CLICK HERE

Day 26

Riverfront Kayak Lake

4x8 inches. Gouache on toned Kraft paper.

Day 27

Peanut Butter Crunch Cereal

7x7.5 inches. Gouache on ivory paper.

$85

Painting cereal is hard!! So many little shapes. It's definitely a good practice to paint all those little spherical shapes. Each one is very different. Ok, does anyone else prefer their cereal a little soggy?? Asking for a friend 😏

To buy, CLICK HERE

Day 28

Listerine Bottle

8x5.5 inches. Gouache on watercolor paper.

$60

Was racking my brain for something fun to paint for the Challenge and I thought it would be an interesting challenge to paint the green liquid and unorthodox bottle. I was thinking about the shape design of some of my favorite still life painters like Zoey Frank, Ed Praybe, and James Bland. They do a good job of construction within a 2-D space, and I was hoping to bring some of that into my painting.

To buy, CLICK HERE

Day 29

Chocolate Muffin

5x8 inches. Gouache on watercolor paper.

$45

The "sprinkles" are toasted coconut flakes.

To buy, CLICK HERE

Day 30

6x8 inches. Oil on linen.